Examining the relationship between two year vocational school students’ beliefs about language learning and their academic success

Available online at www.sciencedirect.com

Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences 2 (2010) 3489–3493

WCES-2010

Examining the relationship between two year vocational school students’ beliefs about language learning and their academic success Eda Üstünela *, Ersin Samura a

Mu÷la University,Faculty of Education, English Language Teacher Training Department, Mu÷la, 48000, Turkey Received October 28, 2009; revised December 4, 2009; accepted January 14, 2010

Abstract The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between one year prep school students’ beliefs about language learning and some variables such as gender roles, high school attended, department enrolled, compulsory prep school taken, and academic success. Sampling of this study is 248 students, who attended SÕtkÕ Koçman Foreign Language School at Mu÷la University in Turkey, during 2007-2008 academic year. The data have been collected by Beliefs about Language Learning (BALLI) questionnaire. SPSS 14 is used for data analysis. The results of this study show that there is no significant difference in students’ beliefs about language learning according to gender, high school and success variables while there are significant differences according to compulsory prep school and department. © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Beliefs about language learning; prep school education; perception; vocational school.

1. Introduction The prep school at Mu÷la University gives one-year extensive English courses to many students from different departments. At the end of the year, some of the students are better than the others. “What is it that allows some learners to learn languages quicker and with more ease than others?” and “What are the qualities of such good language learners?” (Gardner & Lambert, 1972). Students come into class with certain beliefs and misconceptions about language learning and those beliefs may cause anxiety or impede language learning (Green, 1993; Horwitz, 1988; Mantle-Bromley, 1995; Phillips, 1991). Therefore, students have to be encouraged to express their beliefs for both themselves and their teachers. Doing so would allow learners to consider why they are participating in certain activities, how these activities help them learn English, and what use they can make of them both for academic purposes and outside of the classroom (Bulut & Durak, 2002). Teachers should be encouraged to learn more about their students and teaching/learning process (McDonough, 1986). The better a teacher knows his/her students the more s/he can help them. The aim of this study is to find out students’ beliefs about language learning and whether there is any significant difference in their beliefs according to some variables.

* Eda Üstünel. Tel.: +90-252-211-1770; fax: +90-252-223-9280 E-mail address: [email protected]

1877-0428 © 2010 Published by Elsevier Ltd. doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2010.03.540

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2. Method This study was conducted at Mu÷la Vocational School, Mu÷la University, with the programs, whose students attended English prep school for one year. There are both compulsory programs; Foreign Trade (FT), Travelling and Touring Services (TTS), Radio and Television Broadcasting (RTB) and voluntary programs; Tourism and Hotel Services (THS), Computer Technologies and Programming (CTP). The participants are 248 students: 140 males and 108 females. There are 61 students in FT, 89 students in TTS, 29 students RTB, 38 students in THS, 31 students in CTP. They come mainly from AVHS (179), 41 students are from SHS and 28 students are from VHS. 157 of students took university entrance exam and 91 of them were placed without any exams. Prep school is compulsory for 180 students and elective for 68 students. At the end of the year 85 of the students were successful and 165 students were unsuccessful. The main question of this study is: What is the relationship between students’ beliefs about language learning and some variables? These are the following sub-research questions: (1)Do students attending Mu÷la Vocational School (MVS) have any difference in their beliefs about language learning according to gender?; (2)Do students attending MVS have any difference in their beliefs about language learning according to department?; (3)Do students attending MVS have any difference in their beliefs about language learning according to high school?; (4)Do students attending MVS have any difference in their beliefs about language learning according to compulsory prep school?; (5)Do students attending MVS have any difference in their beliefs about language learning according to success? Horwitz (1988) developed BALLI to assess students' beliefs about language learning in five major areas: (1)Foreign language aptitude (FLA); (2)The difficulty of language learning (DLL); (3)The nature of language learning (NLL); (4)Learning and communication strategies (LCS); (5)Motivations and expectations (ME). Cronbach's alpha was found to be .71. 3. Discussion and Results 3.1. The relationship between students’ beliefs about language learning and gender variable Table 1. N,

X

and Sd values and t-test results concerning students’ beliefs about language learning attending MVS according to gender Gender

N

X

Sd

Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female

140 108 140 108 140 108 140 108 140 108

9,3857 9,6759 13,4571 12,9907 19,2429 18,3333 23,5857 22,7037 14,8786 14,9259

2,7078 3,3512 3,1288 3,1696 3,9290 3,9977 4,2256 4,1989 3,0546 3,3256

*p<0.05

There is no significant difference in students’ beliefs about language learning according to gender variable. 3.2. The relationship between students’ beliefs about language learning and department variable Table 2. N,

X

and Sd values concerning students’ beliefs about language learning attending MVS according to department Department

N

X

Sd

FT TTS RTB THS CTP FT

61 89 29 38 31 61

13,2131 13,4382 14,4138 12,4211 12,7419 19,2295

3,25635 3,14771 2,89726 3,14197 2,96612 4,27549

Eda Üstünel and Ersin Samur / Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences 2 (2010) 3489–3493 TTS RTB THS CTP FT TTS RTB THS CTP FT TTS RTB THS CTP

89 29 38 31 61 89 29 38 31 61 89 29 38 31

19,3258 20,4483 16,8158 17,7097 24,2951 23,0562 24,2414 20,5526 23,7419 9,3443 9,5955 11,1034 8,1842 9,7419

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3,45351 4,20532 3,88938 3,67145 4,19660 3,68461 3,61204 3,81106 5,41853 2,79813 2,81118 3,77345 2,29989 3,27585

RTB has the highest score in NLL, LCS and ME. FT has the highest score in FLA. Table 3. One-way variance analysis test results concerning students’ beliefs about language learning attending MVS according to department Source of variance Between groups Within groups Total Between groups Within groups Total Between groups Within groups Total Between groups Within groups Total

Sum ofsquares 76,623 2372,373 2448,996 300,570 3605,607 3906,177 381,871 4034,048 4415,919 144,419 2081,544 2225,964 **p<0.01

df 4 243 247 4 243 247 4 243 247 4 243 247

Mean square 19,156 9,763 75,142 14,838 95,468 16,601 36,105 8,566

When Table 3 is examined there is significant difference in LCS, FLA and ME subgroups (p<0.01). Table 4. Scheffe test results concerning students’ beliefs about language learning attending MVS according to department Department FT RTB THS CTP FT TTS THS CTP FT TTS RTB CTP FT TTS THS CTP

Mean Std. Error difference ,0963 ,64028 -1,1224 ,82363 2, 5101 ,74645 1,6162 ,80334 1,2188 ,86885 1,1224 ,82363 3,6325 ,94980 2,7389 ,99513 -3,7425 ,84203 -2,5035 ,78956 -3,6887 1,00465 -3,1893 ,98610 1,7592 ,66016 1,5079 ,62580 2,9192 ,72167 1,3615 ,75611 **p<0.01, *p<0.05

Sig. 1,000 ,762 ,025* ,402 ,742 ,762 ,007** ,112 ,001** ,042* ,010** ,036* ,134 ,218 ,003* ,519

There is a meaningful difference between TTS and THS in LCS. THS has a higher score. In FLA, THS has lower score than all other departments. In ME, RTB has a higher score than THS. Table 5. Kruskal Wallis test results concerning students’ beliefs about language learning and department variable in DLL subgroup Department FT CTP

N 61 31 p<0.05

Mean rank 136,84 128,50

There is no significant difference in students’ beliefs according to department variable in DLL subgroup.

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3.3. The relationship between students’ beliefs about language learning and high school variable Table 6. One-way variance analysis test results concerning students’ beliefs about language learning attending MVS according to high school Source of variance Between groups Within groups Total Between groups Within groups Total Between groups Within groups Total Between groups Within groups Total

Sum of squares 44,645 2404,351 2448,996 48,257 3857,921 3906,177 67,945 4347,975 4415,919 2,291 2223,673 2225,964

df

Mean square

2 245 247 2 245 247 2 245 247 2 245 247

22,323 9,814 24,128 15,747 33,972 17,747 1,145 9,076

p<0,05

All p values are bigger than 0.05 so there is no significant difference according to high school variance. Table 7. Kruskal Wallis test results concerning students’ beliefs about language learning and high school variable in DLL subgroup High school Anatolian Vocational High School Vocational High School State High School Total

N 179

Mean rank 125,71

28 41 207 p>0,05

133,57 113,02

There is no significant difference in DLL. State High School students have higher scores in NLL and LCS and Vocational High School students have higher scores in FLA, DLL and ME than all other students. 3.4. The relationship between students’ beliefs about language learning and compulsory prep school variable Table 8. N,

X

and Sd values and t-test results concerning students’ beliefs about language learning attending MVS according to compulsory prep school Compulsory Prep Yes No Yes No Yes No Yes No

N 180 68 180 68 180 68 180 68

Mean 15,0500 14,5000 9,7556 8,8676 19,4611 17,2206 13,5167 12,5588

Std. Deviation 3,09852 3,33905 3,01694 2,88540 3,86990 3,82000 3,14718 3,06829

*p<0.05

There is no significant difference in students’ beliefs according to compulsory prep school variable. Table 9. Mann-Whitney U test results concerning students’ beliefs about language learning and high school variable in FLA Compulsory Prep Yes No Total

N 180 68 248

Mean rank 132,07 104,45 **p<0.01

Sum of ranks 23773,50 7102,50

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There is a significant difference in FLA subgroup according to compulsory prep school variable. There is no significant difference in DLL, ME, LCS, and NLL subgroups. 3.5. The relationship between students’ beliefs about language learning and success variable Table 10. N, X and Sd values and t-test results concerning students’ beliefs about language learning attending MVS according to success Compulsory Prep Yes No Yes No Yes No Yes No Yes No

N 82 165 82 165 82 165 82 165 82 165

Mean 14,3293 15,1697 9,0732 9,7030 18,2561 19,1152 13,5000 13,1455 21,7195 23,9515

Std. Deviation 2,98992 3,23213 2,65637 3,13560 3,73773 4,07013 3,05202 3,20300 3,71276 4,29237

There is no significant difference in students’ beliefs about language learning. 4. Conclusion Gender has no effect on students’ beliefs about language learning. Thus, it is not always a determining factor in language learning. There is a significant difference between TTS and THS in LCS subgroup. THS has a higher score. It is a surprising result because they are similar departments except the difference that TTS has a compulsory prep school and THS does not have a compulsory prep school. There is no significant difference in DLL according to department variable. They all think that learning English is easy but their success level shows the opposite. The most successful department has 41% success level. In ME, RTB has a higher score than THS. The difference can be seen in their success level as well; RTB has 41% success level while THS has 32%. The implication of this result is that if students’ motivation and expectations are high they are more successful. High school is not an effective factor in their language learning beliefs. According to compulsory prep school variable there is a significant difference in FLA for compulsory students. They have a higher foreign language aptitude because they cannot graduate unless they pass the proficiency exam. There is no significant difference in their beliefs about language learning according to success variable. It is believed that good language learners have certain qualities. However, in this study, the result does not show any implications of effect in their beliefs. References Bulut, T. and Durak, S. (2002). The difference between the perceptions of the students and their teachers’. 1st International Symposium on Modern Approaches, Methods, and ELT Problems, SDU, Isparta. Gardner, R. C. and Lambert, W. E. (1972). Attitudes and motivation in second language learning. Rowley, MA: Newbury House. Green, J. (1993). Students' attitudes toward communicative activities: Do enjoyment and effectiveness go together? The Modern Language Journal, 77, 1-10. Horwitz, E. K. (1988). The beliefs about language learning of beginning university foreign language students. The Modern Language Journal. 72, 283-294. Mantle-Bromley, C. (1995). Positive attitudes and realistic beliefs: Links to proficiency. The Modern Language Journal, 79, 372-386. McDonough, S. H. (1986) Psychology in foreign language teaching . London: George Allen and Hynman Ltd Phillips, E. M. (1991). Anxiety and oral competence: Classroom dilemma. The French Review, 65, 1-14.